Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR A TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY - 11.9.05 Sir 27,30-28,7; Rom 14,7-9; Mt 18,21-35 The logic of ‘for-give-ness For-give-ness:
a gift above all gifts. When you have nothing else to give, give yourself, which is just another
way to say: ‘for-give’ & is the gift par-excellence, the gift of gifts. In last Sunday’s Gospel,
Matthew challenged us to agree in our families & communities ‘If
two of you agree & ask anything at all...’. Now, this is already a
big ask in our modern conflictual families! But today, there is more: if sadly
our hurts make it impossible to agree, then we are duty bound to give the gift
par excellence, the gift of ourselves, our forgiveness: this far goes the debt
of mutual love, based on God’s unbelievable love for us. This logic is
impossible to implement by our human effort; we need faith & God’s grace,
and we do it only in response to God’s love for us: He loved us first and
loves us always. The reason why I must forgive others, is because God has loved
me first; yes, God did not spare his own Son on Calvary; just look how many
times He has forgiven you & me during our lives!.. Today’s lesson from the
ungrateful servant is powerful indeed: ‘You wicked servant I cancelled a debt
of yours, which ran into billions when you appealed to me. Were you not bound to
have pity on your fellow servant, when he pleaded to you over a ridiculously
small amount? In both family & Church, we have no choice but to forgive
always, not seven, not seventy seven times, but always: here numbers help us to
clarify concepts, as in the phrase: ‘You have been told one hundred times’.
We must forgive others always as God has forgiven us always, unconditionally,
completely. Today let each of us dwell on the many occasions when our loving God
has spared us shame & embarrassment; and has forgiven us our wrongdoings
& failings! Today,
let us pray for “for-give-ness”. We need God’s inner
strength to give & receive forgiveness.
In today’s Gospel, forgiveness is not a feeling of kindness, or an
overkill of superiority; rather it is a choice & a duty that we accomplish
before God. The model for this forgiveness is Christ on the cross, who in his
desire to do God’s will to the bitter end, died saying: ‘Father forgive them
for they do not know what they are doing’. Out of this same logic, we pray for
forgiveness in the “Our Father”: ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us’. We Christians believe that by coming into the
Church we have been forgiven and bought at a huge price by the blood of Christ.
This in turn binds us to forgive to the bitter end as Jesus from the cross. Thus
Matthew concludes his teaching with the immensely humbling lesson on
‘for-give-ness’. He knows that unconditional and unlimited forgiveness is
difficult at the best of times. We all know how hard it is for old grudges,
cultural suspicions, real or imagined hurts to be overcome; for years & at
times for life, these occupy much space in our emotional & spiritual life.
Still we must forgive & pray for forgiveness. For over 1000 years, our
European tongues have used the word ‘for-give-ness’ (English) ‘par-don’
(French), ‘per-dono’ (Italian & Spanish) to encapsulate the Gospel
wisdom of God’s love for us & (in return) our love for God & one
another: Literally it means: a gift above all others, an act of donation par
excellence. It refers first of all to God, who while we were enemies, loved us
to excess (Remember Mel Gibson movie) & in spite of our rejection, He still
gave us his greatest gift: his Beloved Son, who came to live among us, forgave
us as he died on the cross and rose to reconcile us to God & one another. In
the Eucharist, we re-enact Jesus’ death & rising & in his name we
receive & give: God’s gift par excellence: his forgiveness. ______________________________________ |
